O’Connell’s GFC Club Newsletter [7/1/25]

O’Connell’s GFC Club Newsletter for 7th January 2025

Lotto

Lotto numbers for Tuesday, January 7th: 9, 12, 24, 27

2 match 3 winners each receive €100

Winner: Pat Cunningham | Promoter: G. McGrory

Winner: Jennifer Englishby | P. McGeough

Bingo

Bingo will continue in the clubrooms on Wednesday, January 14th at 8pm, the current jackpot is €2.000 in 48 numbers or less. Bingo on Wednesday, January 7th has been postponed due to forecasted adverse weather conditions

Members Thank You Day

Our annual members thank you day took place on Sunday, December 22nd in the clubrooms. Our club Player of the Year awards were presented with three awards up for grabs: Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year and Division 6 Player of the Year. Congratulations to Stuart Osbourne, Justin Cooney & Evan Kearney who won the awards on the night. The medals for this year’s Kevin Mullen Shield victory were also presented on the night to all players in attendance. Along with the current team, there was also a special presentation made to commemorate the 1999 League winning and Championship final team. It was great to see a lot of the team present on the night, along with the management panel from that year too. Overall, the day was a great success and O’Connell’s GFC would like to extend it’s thanks to everyone who made the day possible.

Ireland’s Cold Snap

Met Eireann has issued an orange weather warning across large parts of the country for the coming days with temperatures expected to reach as low as -8 degrees in some parts of the country. Despite this, we are still a long way from the coldest weather ever recorded on the island of Ireland, with the record low temperature being an incredible -19 degrees recorded in Sligo during the late 1800’s

Leinster GAA Icon Retires

Louth’s opening round game in the Allianz National League may only be three weeks ago, but opponents Westmeath will have to prepare without former captain John Heslin as he recently announced his retirement from the inter-county game. Since making his Westmeath debut in 2011, Heslin (who is still only 32) has scored an outstanding 5-162 for the Lake County, leaving him standing alone as the all-time top scorer for the men in Marron and White. During his time with Westmeath, Heslin won the first iteration of the Tailteann Cup in 2022, along with making back-to-back Leinster Finals.

Louth GAA Structure Change

A motion passed at the recent Louth County Board meeting will see a change to the structure of Louth’s two bottom leagues changed for the coming season. Following a motion put forward by Na Pairsaigh, Division 3A and 3B will be merged to create Division 3. Unlike previous years where teams would play each other three times, each time will now play one game against every team in the division. At the conclusion of the league, the team in first place will be crowned champions, with teams from positions 2-5 fighting for the opportunity to be in the promotion game. Finally, teams 8-11 will compete in a mini tournament for the right to be crowned 3B champions.